


The Phases of the Moon

by ShivaVixen



Series: For Want of a Master [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, being a werewolf sucks, mentions of prejudice, things are looking up though, trying to figure out character reasons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2020-09-02 03:22:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20269189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShivaVixen/pseuds/ShivaVixen
Summary: Remus Lupin has been doing his best to survive with his friends gone, but some days are harder than others.Then he hears the news that makes living a little easier.





	1. Waning

**Author's Note:**

> Remus’ side of the story...

Being cursed to become a werewolf every full moon was, to understate, awful. The new regulations for werewolves were just a few steps away from getting their wands snapped, and depending on which bigot one spoke to either ought to be on display in a menagerie or locked away in Azkaban.

Lily and James Potter had helped him financially, when the regulations on jobs had become stricter in response to Greyback’s increased attacks.

Only that financial net had been cut and werewolves weren’t allowed near children under age eleven if there wasn’t an adult witch or wizard nearby, which left him unable to be near Harry without risking Azkaban, or worse.

More than once after a full moon, he had considered it, if he was going to suffer like this, he would at least have seen Harry and gotten to apologize for not seeing the snake that killed James and Lily before it was too late. 

That moment in fifth year where Black had sent Severus after him- that should’ve been a red flag. 

Only Black had run away from his family that summer and picked his friends over them... accepting being disinherited in favor of the three of them.

Sometimes Remus thought everyone had gotten it wrong somehow, that Sirius couldn’t have done it.

But the more time that passed, the more Remus tried to forget those thoughts.

He’d looked up the Fidelis charm, studied it for anyway that someone could get around it. He found nothing, save that upon their death whoever had been told the secret would be become the secret keeper in their place.

He existed going job to job, and once he thought he might’ve seen Harry pass by with his family, but he wasn’t sure and if he didn’t hurry he wouldn’t make his train.

He avoided that stop in the future, the temptation was almost too great.

Then came the Ministry announcement and Remus couldn’t remember which way was up. 

Sirius had been innocent the entire time. They’d switched secret keepers, (without telling him, but he’d been gone so often infiltrating werewolf packs without telling them... and they suspected a traitor.) Peter was revealed a traitor and an animagus, but Sirius wasn’t.

It took him a couple weeks and several discarded and crumpled letters before he sent Dumbledore a missive about Sirius’s location.

It took him nearly changing his mind three times and doubling back and almost leaving twice before he could find enough courage to just stand by the gate.

It was a good thing that Sirius ended up running into him. Remus would’ve taken forever to try and enter the house.

Sirius looked as if he’d downed an aging potion by accident. Azkaban had done a number on him, and Remus felt sick.

He’d known something wasn’t quite right about the story but had never been brave enough to try and ask. All he’d done was tread water to survive while Sirius had been drowning.

Before he left, he apologized once more.

“Not your fault, Remus ... have you seen Harry?”

“Once, from a distance. There were a few new laws passed while you were gone ... werewolves can’t be near children without a witch or wizard present.” Remus sighed. “And according to Dumbledore it might be better if I waited to meet him until after he started Hogwarts.”

“Remus...” Sirius frowned, not doubt going to object.

“I need to get going, I’ve been giving owl post tutorial lessons for the summer.” He had quite a few left to grade.

Sirius stopped him. “Where are you living?”

“Why?” Remus was somewhat surprised he was even asking, Sirius knew his address, didn’t he?

“Because eventually I will go spare if I don’t have a reason or two to leave the house.”

“I’m still in the same old place, I’m afraid. Mum left me the house, so ...” Remus shrugged.

“Be careful then, let me know if you need help. No place to romp, but I wouldn’t mind helping...” was Sirius’s offer.

“... I might take you up on that.” 

Returning home, for the first time in a long time Remus actually had hope for the future.


	2. New Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus wasn’t expecting visitors after Christmas, but it’s something he’s grateful for.

Christmas was over and Remus had lost another job, this time with someone lobbing a pudding at him.

The owl post tutoring was the only steady source of income he had, but it wasn’t quite enough. He was disconnected from the floo network again, and he was low on groceries.

At the very least, he didn’t have to worry about the full moon until after the new year.

“Oi, you in there?” Someone banged on his front door.

Remus paused in the middle of sorting out his notes on arithmancy, and looking at the door. “Sirius? What are you doing?”

“I brought you Christmas gifts! Open up, it’s cold out here!” 

Remus opened the door and watched as Sirius just put several bowls of leftovers on the table. “Put them here- Remus you need to shut the door.” 

Remus shut the door and blinked at the tiny form standing by Sirius. “You, wait ... that’s...” 

Sirius ignored him to help the child out of his hat and coat, revealing a mini-James with green eyes, but that meant ...

“I promise he’s usually much more articulate and polite.” Sirius placed the items with his own by the door. “This is Remus Lupin, a friend of me and your dad’s from school.” Sirius clapped Remus’s shoulder. “Remus, this is Harry.”

“Hullo Mr. Lupin, Happy Christmas!” Was the cheerful greeting, complete with hug.

“Hello Harry, Happy Christmas.” Remus managed, returning the hug. “I’m sorry I didn’t know you were coming, this is a surprise.”

“Well if I told you, you’d have had time to freak out.” Sirius sounded almost apologetic. “I figured the quicker we got the awkward first meeting out of the way, the sooner we could plan some actual times for visits.”

“I’m not complaining, I’m happy to see you both.” Remus stared at the bowls. “You brought food?”

“Leftovers. Andy made way too much food.”

“Kreacher made some of it. He was bored.” 

“Wait what?” Sirius stared at the food.

“The vegetable soup and treacle is his.” Harry looked up at Sirius. “He didn’t think Aunt Andy made enough vegetable dishes, and I like Treacle.”

“Vegetables? Why’s he concerned about that?”

“He followed me to school and listened to the health lessons, including the upper classes. I think he said Muggles weren’t as dumb as he thought.”

Remus watched the exchange in amusement, before the name caught up to him. “Wait, Kreacher, as in your mother’s house elf?”

“Yes, while I was in Azkaban Kreacher sought out Harry after her death.” Sirius and Harry had started setting the table, and Remus helped Harry with the knives. “Apparently he went to Andy for help because he noticed my legal status didn’t have ‘convicted’ on it. He’s devoted to Harry, not so much me.”

“They both get grumpy when they’re in the same room.” Harry informed Remus. 

Dinner was pleasant, Harry was happy to chatter about how he got to ride on Dora’s old broom and how he was now beating her at gobstones more than he lost, and exploding snap was temporarily banned after they somehow set the table on fire with the cards. (No one knew how that happened.) 

Remus got a chance to reminisce about some of the good times, as well as an excuse to pull out the pictures he had shoved into a box.

They left the leftovers with him, and Harry gave him a new cloak (from Sirius as well).

Remus gave Harry some of the pictures that had caught his fancy, especially the one of his parents dancing as the autumn leaves fell. (They’d just gotten engaged)

Sirius bundled Harry up as he started to yawn.

“It was good to see you both again.” Remus smiled sadly as Sirius picked up Harry. James and Lily should be here. “I’m glad you came today.”

“I got a new watch, shows phases of the moon.” Sirius admitted. “I figure new moon visits would be the one thing you wouldn’t try to run from.” 

“You’re right.” Remus chuckled.

“You lost your job again, huh?”

“Not many people want ... someone like me.”

“S’stupid, s’only once a month.” Harry muttered. For a moment, Remus thought he could hear James.

Remus felt his breath catch. “What?”

“Andy and I might’ve argued about visiting you, mostly because you wouldn’t come over so she could meet you first.” Sirius grimaced. “Things got heated, and Harry and Dora eavesdropped.” 

Harry then leaned out of Sirius’s arms and caught Remus in a very awkward hug. Remus didn’t get a second to process as Sirius, in order not to drop Harry, turned it into a group hug. “You visit us next time.” 

“Harry, I-“ Remus got cut off by the hug tightening. “I’ll think about it.”

“We’ll keep surprising you with visits then.” Sirius grinned. “Until you feel comfortable with joining us.”

The two left and Remus spent some time cleaning up. The new year was starting to look a little more hopeful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Andy definitely has slight mother bear tendencies and would like to meet people before they get invited over. She will warm up to Remus once she actually meets him, but Remus will take a while to get enough courage to try.
> 
> Do wizards not have therapists? Cause they all need them.


	3. Waxing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus has a family again.

Even though he now spent time corresponding with Sirius, including the occasional visit, it was still a shock to see him in his house.

“I have no idea what I’m doing, Remus.” Sirius was laying on the couch, an arm covering his eyes. “I don’t know how to be a parent!”

“I’m definitely not qualified to give advice on that subject.” Remus informed him. 

“I got called to Harry’s school. I had to come up with some nonsense to keep Harry safe and I had to do it to cover Dudley being a brat and damn it all I don’t know how to deal with that elf.”

Remus stared at his friend for a moment, before deciding that yes, he actually wanted to understand what Sirius had just said.

“Harry did magic to protect himself?”

“No. I wish he had.”

“But Dudley was trying to do something to Harry?”

“Yes, spill glitter and blame Harry.”

“Alright, and how does Kreacher get involved?”

“He’s been following Harry to school and protecting him ... he made the glitter explode on Harry and Dudley. I suggested it was Dudley’s friend that did it and let him take the fall. Grant it, given Dudley’s reaction it was the kid’s suggestion to do it to Harry in the first place...”

Remus sat down and looked at him in confusion. “It sounds like you handled it well and you didn’t have to get the Ministry involved.”

“Petunia Dursley said I didn’t know how to raise a child.” Sirius grumbled. “A bit rich since her son gets whatever he wants when he wants it and Harry was over the moon when he got clothes that fit as gifts ...”

“But you think she has a point?”

“... It was always the worst case scenario. If James and Lily died during a raid or public attack, the plan was I’d take Harry out of the country and return when he was ready for school. If one or the other died, again, help them out of the country and hope Voldemort wouldn’t follow.” Sirius sighed. “If I died, Harry would inherit whatever Black legacy was left to me, and James and Lily would have a few more of my family’s legal protections. Not much, but it would have helped.” Sirius paused. “I was sure I was going to be the one to die.” 

“The decoy plan ...” Remus realized that he wasn’t sure why that bothered him suddenly. “Sirius...”

“I wasn’t suicidal, Remus, and I won’t quit as long as Harry needs me ... but if the choice had been my life for theirs ... I would always choose for Harry to have James and Lily.”

“And I’m pretty sure James chose you to step up because he knew you’d look after Harry and protect him more fiercely than anybody else.” Remus pointed out. 

“Should’ve stayed with him and Hagrid...”

Once again Sirius had spiraled back to that horrible night. It seemed every time he was getting better, he found something new from that night to drag himself back down. Remus had a feeling it was the effect of prolonged exposure to the dementors, even with his animagus form, their effects on Sirius’s psyche would take years to recover from.

At least he knew how to deal with this memory.

“Pettigrew was still alive, and you knew he’d betrayed James and Lily. He was a potential danger to Harry... you did the right thing going after him.” Remus paused. “You probably should have shot me a message. Or someone a message. Going after him alone was your only mistake.”

Sirius flinched as if struck, but that got him to remove his arm to look at Remus.

“You always leapt into things recklessly, especially when upset, the few times you ever showed restraint were if one of us needed you, like the time Malfoy’s curse hit Pete ... you didn’t go after him then, but immediately dragged him to the infirmary. I think James knew that if he was gone, the only thing that would ever make you think twice was having Harry to look after.” Remus paused again. “He knew better than to trust me.”

“Actually James wanted you instead of Peter, he was miffed that I thought otherwise, I think he knew what you were doing.” Sirius looked annoyed. “He still trusted Pettigrew, though.”

“So did you and so did I. We can’t beat ourselves up about it forever.” Remus ignored the sulky retort and got up to get something to drink.

He was interrupted by a knock on his door. Warily he walked over to it.

The woman who stood in front of him was eerily familiar. “Is my idiot of a cousin here?”

“Ah, if you mean Sirius then yes, he’s moping on my couch.” Remus let Andromeda in.

Sirius grumbled at that, but got up as she walked over. “I told you where I was.”

“I’m here to remind you we pick up Harry tomorrow. And ask why you were called to the school?”

“Err ...” Remus backed out of the room as Sirius went over the day again with his cousin.

He made up three cups of tea, then almost had a heart attack when he turned around and Andromeda was standing there. “Ah, tea?”

“I can’t decide whether or not to trust you. You didn’t speak up for him.”

That was incredibly unfair, from someone who had taken several years to question the fact as well. He didn’t call her on that.

“I’m afraid I have no defense, but I can assure you that I will be there in the future.”

“Good then we’ll see you for Easter dinner. It’s at six on Easter. Don’t be late.”

“Yes, I mean no I ... wait, what?” Remus was left baffled as she walked out. 

“That was Andy’s way of forcing you to come over ... she’ll probably kidnap you if you don’t go.” Sirius cheerfully took a cup of tea. “Besides, Harry will want to see you.”

Remus was unable to come up with an excuse that Sirius wouldn’t ignore. A few short days later he was once again at the gate, only this time he was entering it.

“Wotcher!” A young witch with blue hair landed near the front door, Harry was sitting in front of her. 

“Remus!” Harry lunged off the broom, knocking the young witch and broom over.

“Hello, Harry. How are you?” Remus caught him in a hug.

“No one mind me, I’ll just lie here.” The young witch grumbled as she struggled up.

“Sorry, Dora!” Harry scrambled back over to help her up.

“It’s fine squirt.” ‘Dora’ almost over balanced and face planted. Remus caught her, then got the shock of his life as her hair changed length and colors. “Thanks for the help, I’m Tonks!” She introduced herself with just her last name.

“Remus Lupin, I’m a friend of Sirius’s from school.” 

“You look like you lost a fight.” She informed him, and he felt slightly self conscious, the full moon had been only a few days ago. “Come in!” 

Harry latched onto his hand and pulled him into the house behind her.

“Nymphadora Vulpecula Tonks! You better not have taken Harry out flying!”

“Oops.” Her hair turned brown and she tried to hide the broom quickly. She ended up knocking several things over, and Remus had to pull Harry back before he got hit by something while trying to help.

A familiar bark of laughter heralded Sirius coming in to help. “We really need to work on your stealth if you want to be an Auror.” 

Harry made a soft noise of panic. And Tonks looked a little guilty, still holding the broom.

“I’m not mad, no one got hurt, but next time let me watch just in case. No more flying for today.” Sirius picked up the broom.

“Okay.” Harry looked relieved.

“Harry, go tell Aunt Andy that Remus is here, Dora, let’s get this put back up.”

Harry tugged Remus into the dining room. “Aunt Andy! Remus is here!”

“Oh good, it’s ready, go wash up.” Andromeda glanced out the window and then back at the ham she was getting out of the oven.

Remus had a sneaking suspicion that she’d been watching the two on the broom from the window the entire time.

“Easy there Harry. Hullo, I’m Ted Tonks.”

“Remus Lupin.”

“Pleasure to meet you, finally. Sirius has been telling a lot of stories about your time at Hogwarts to Harry.”

“I should caution you he’s prone to exaggeration and melodrama.” Remus wasn’t sure how to relax. The last time he’d been with a family like this, Harry had just been born and they were celebrating.

“We noticed. I’m still trying to figure out if you actually had a rabbit or not.” 

“I’ve never had a rabbit, regardless of how many transfigured ones James would give me as a joke.” 

Dinner was nice, Tonks spent most of her time not eating and making faces at Harry, making him giggle as her face changed shape. Ted got Remus into conversation about the recent Quidditch season, while Andy was telling Sirius that yes, an extra vegetable dish had appeared while she was setting the table, did Kreacher do this again?

Gradually, he relaxed. It was nice being included. 

“And the lake has grindylows, a giant squid and merpeople! Plus a couple others, but those are the three I’ve seen.” Tonks made a face. “Word of advice, do not get talked into riding the giant squid, Charlie thought it would be fun to tickle it mid-ride and knocked me off.”

“Charlie... isn’t that one that talked you into going into the Forbidden Forest?”

“He wanted to meet the Centaurs. We got lost instead. Found a troll.” Tonks grimaced. “Harry, you ever see a troll, go in the opposite direction before you yell at the idiot with you.”

“He’s the one that wants a dragon as a pet, right?” Sirius asked, curious.

“He and Hagrid are looking for an excuse to get one for the school.” Tonks shook her head. “Though Charlie’s worried, Bill’s been weird since last year.”

“Why’s that?”

“Dunno, his little brother’s rat died and he started looking up stuff on being an Auror instead of a curse breaker.” Tonks shrugged. The adults all paused for a moment, sharing a look. “I think it’s because Aurors pay better than curse breakers and he wants to help his parents, counting him there are seven kids in his family.”

“What’s his last name? I’ll tell Moody to keep an eye out for him.” Sirius offered.

“Weasley. I told you this last year.” Tonks reminded him, and Sirius winced. Tonks’ hair changed colors briefly. “Oh, it was a bad day ... sorry.”

“Not your fault.”

“Did mum really change Dad’s robes to be pink?” Harry asked, and Remus willingly went along with the subject change.

It was fun, Sirius had retreated briefly but eventually brightened up again.

After that Easter, Remus began getting notes from the Tonks family. Ted signed his daughter up for tutoring, mostly for Defense Against the Dark Arts (the inability of there to be the same professor more than a year was a handicap for most students) though Tonks herself admitted that charms wasn’t her strong suit.

Mysteriously, several witches and wizards who had threatened legal action when his secret was discovered went silent. Andromeda (“You can call me Andy, the only ones that use my full name now are family members I don’t want to see again.”) had gotten him to sign a contract to make her his solicitor, and somehow managed to drive them off.

Sirius occasionally came over for the full moon turning into Padfoot and helping him. Harry only ever came to his place around the new moon during the various holidays, the week around the full moon Sirius was responsible and didn’t bring him over. 

Andy, however, would make him check in two days after the full moon. If he missed a check in, she’d be there and drag him to her house to monitor his recovery.

What really got him through was the sudden appearance of letters from Harry. Telling him about his day and asking how Remus was doing.

It made it easier to keep moving, keep trying for employment, even though Sirius was willing to pay his bills, Remus wasn’t quite willing to put his friend as a safety net.

(It was more than worth it, to be there when Harry boarded the train for the first time and to see him off. There had been days where he thought he’d never get to see that moment.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remus and Tonks won’t be a couple for several years, and neither one was interested in each other right then. I actually have a plan for them since the books were from Harry’s point of view and as much as I love the books... We don’t get much in the way of their story, just the bits that Harry sees and he’s not the most reliable narrator. (I like the idea of the pairing, it could be really sweet, but it will be a while before I get to it.)


	4. Full

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to scale The wizarding world money to English money to get Lupin’s rates, as well as google what the standard rates for Uk tutoring were.
> 
> Also had to look up information on defamation laws in the uk, it can only be done within one year of print and only to prove that it could affect someone’s livelihood. So yeah, Skeeter has to print something inflammatory about Sirius and Harry in order for her and/or the prophet to get sued.

“Wolfsbane potion, huh?” Sirius was studying the newspaper, the potions breakthrough had been shoved to the back, positively buried. Remus had been seeing snatches of information regarding it’s development, but this was the first official announcement of the potion in question.

Sirius’s visits were more frequent when Harry wasn’t staying with him. And this was not the first time Remus regretted giving Sirius the spare key. He’d just woken up and Sirius had already come in and made himself at home.

“Yes, but it’s expensive and difficult to brew, but for those who can afford it ...” Remus couldn’t stop the longing in his voice. It would make his life so much easier, but he could only afford it maybe once a year, if that.

“I’ll pay for it.” Sirius offered immediately. 

“I couldn’t ask you to do that...”

“Remus, you’re my friend. James and Lily would’ve paid for it in a heartbeat, why are you against me paying?”

“I don’t... I’m not against it, I just... are you sure you should be associating with me? That Skeeter woman ...”

“Had that defamation case coming. Thanks to her article anyone who might’ve had second thoughts about me not getting a trial didn’t bother. Her trying to go after Harry and I like that, when he’s a minor and I and Andy told her ‘no’.” Sirius grumbled. 

“Still, I don’t want you getting in trouble ...”

“Then I give you the money to get it, or Andy can figure something out, we have options Remus.” Sirius looked at him. “You have options, you’re not alone you know.”

“I know, I just... I don’t want to lose this again.”

“I can’t guarantee that... but please, let me help, you can put the money you would have used into savings so if something does go wrong you still have a safety net.” 

And that was proof that things had changed, Sirius was thinking of consequences.

“Alright- but not everything, I still have my pride.”

“Don’t I know it.” Sirius muttered.

* * *

It was shortly after Halloween of Harry’s first year that Remus came down to breakfast to quite a sight.

At least twenty Owls were sitting there, all waiting patiently as he stared at them.

“Hello, give me just a minute...” several of them were Hogwarts owls, more than his usual ones, others were ones that he hadn’t seen before. 

Hedwig, Harry’s owl was there as well. 

Only she didn’t have a letter from Harry, but a girl named Hermione. 

‘Dear Mr. Lupin,

My name is Hermione Granger, Harry recommended you as a decent tutor should I require assistance.

I was initially going to study on my own, but I do need help with my Defense classes, the professor has a stutter and that occasionally makes it difficult to follow. 

Harry wasn’t able to give me your rates, as he admitted that you are a family friend, so please Owl me back so I can present the rates to my parents over the winter holidays.

Sincerely,

Hermione Granger’

Remus stared at the letter, before checking the rest. All of them were students that overheard Harry telling Hermione about him, asking what his rates were.

Stunned, Remus began writing responses to all of them.

His rate was three galleons a month for regular students, four galleons a month for OWLs and five galleons a month for NEWTs. He hoped none of them expected him to lower the rate just because they knew Harry. 

(Only one did, Remus was still surprised that they were the only one.)

Hermione did a quick reply asking if he accepted muggle money, and then asked about him coming over to her house for lessons during the summer for her summer homework- Remus was surprised, not many students thought that far ahead. 

Given that Hermione was a first year, he wrote that he would consider doing so after her third year as that was when most students began having trouble ... hopefully by then she’d have reconsidered.

It was nice, Harry apparently was suggesting him to his housemates, but Remus didn’t expect that to last.

* * *

Harry’s second year, he came down to breakfast at the end of the first week to find at least fifty owls, and a couple school owls had multiple letters, all with panicking OWLs and NEWTs students... apparently the new teacher for Defense was extremely poor by their standards and Remus had a feeling that most of the students were using Hogsmeade money (at least two of them paid the amount in only sickles that were rather dirty and sticky, as if they’d been scrounged from the bottom of a trunk).

Sirius entered in the middle of the mess, and looked slightly impressed. “Lockhart must be worse than what Harry’s complaining about then.”

“I honestly have no idea where to begin.”

“Here.” Sirius dropped a stack of books on the table. “These are the textbooks for all the years according to Harry.”

“... Aren’t these fictional?” Remus flipped through the top one.

“I looked into it. Apparently all these things happened in the villages they said and the times. Lockhart was there at those times, so ...” Sirius shrugged.

“The homorphus charm on a werewolf?!”

“Yeah, I looked into that one in particular.” Sirius sighed. “I even questioned Dumbledore... apparently the charm in question was actually modified to work on werewolves and be permanent by an Armenian wizard ... who mysteriously forgot how to do it shortly after, most of his notes were destroyed and the only person it worked on went missing.”

“Lockhart?”

“Either that or the charm was imperfect and the accused werewolf did it out of revenge.” Sirius sighed. “If you want, I can splurge for you to get the Ministry suggested study guides for these kids.” 

“I think I’ll have to take advantage of you again.” Remus reluctantly admitted, glancing through more of the text. It was well written, he’d give Lockhart that much, but it wasn’t a textbook.

Remus paused in his planning to look at Sirius. “How’d you know I would need to see the books?”

“Harry. Apparently he put up a notice including your rates for those that might want help... he has no faith in this Lockhart fellow.”

Remus couldn’t help the smile, then jumped as Kreacher appeared with the study guides in question.

It still took Remus a couple days to get Lessons outlined for each of the students. He didn’t expect the same amount of owls the next month, with a couple students who weren’t able to make the fee again asking through their classmates about their own questions.

The next month, when the Owls arrived again with answers filled in and questions for clarification, Dumbledore did as well.

“I decided to take over paying the fees for the fifth and seventh years, I hope you don’t mind, Remus.” Dumbledore explained over tea. “I probably should have done so at the beginning of the year, but I was rather busy.”

“It’s quite alright, I’m just surprised you hired Lockhart.”

“He was the only one that accepted my request... though I might have been trying to hire him for the past couple of years.” Dumbledore frowned. “I have my suspicions that he’s been oblivating several of my colleagues and claiming they’re successes for himself... but no proof, and no way to get verification by the Ministry as they quite believe him and most incidents happened outside of our country.”

“So you put him in a castle full of children, Albus? Including impressionable fan girls?”

“He’s being monitored by the Bloody Baron and the Fat Friar, as well as a couple paintings, just in case.” Dumbledore sighed. “I’m running out of options lately.”

“I know the feeling.” Remus and the Headmaster went over the answers together before Dumbledore left. 

* * *

Of course, the nature of the moon and being a werewolf was an ever changing cycle, and he would always have bad fortune mixed with the good.


End file.
